ok guys, just thought i'd say i put a K&N panel filter back in to my coupe today, had an sri goin and it was good nice and loud but a mate said it would be better for fuel and performance with a panel filter, so took his word and got one and i have to say runs so much smoother and really has got alot of pull to it, not as loud now but i have to say i think i prefere it! i'll see if i get more mpg now and let ya all know!

just wanted to know what you guys think?

id personally say the opposite. Higher air flow from the sri

Same as - I was getting 420odd to the tank from our gen1 with the XSPower and my custom SRI.

Having said, I'm getting 65 to the gallon off the derv, using a K&N panel filter in the airbox. Which has had the bottom cut off. Completely. It is running 20psi of boost though, so that is quite a lot of suck...

SRI's for me from now on with petrol cars though

I'd love to fit an SRI for the MPG gains, alas my insurance (Swiftcover) doesn't allow it. Maybe at next renewal

MPG wise it makes little difference, Speedy - in fact it can give adverse results if you find yourself using wider throttle openings for the induction noise. I was getting 400 to 420 before the SRI, and about the same after. Fitting the 4-2-1 etc hurt more, it was capable of producing about 430 before that...

Not in it for the noise so that wouldn't be a problem. Would really like to get more MPG out of the Coupe, though I don't think it's something that can be easily tweaked?

You may be getting heatsoak with the SRI, in which case the panal being enclosed and in a cooler (slightly) location will make it better.
Put the SRI back, but with a cold air feed. Me and Ash both used £5 tunbledrier pipe, it can be positioned to be used as a heatsheild as well as feeding colder air at the filter.

Fair point - however I reckon all this talk about heatsoak is vastly overstated. My reasons:

I had an extended JDRides type CAI, it sat somewhere down by the bottom rad hose. Pipework nice and cool to touch, actually insulated it with foam-backed aluminium radiator refector stuff. Coupe would pull 420 to the tank on a run, nice and nippy acceleration.

I cropped this CAI to make an SRI, sat an external thermometer on the cone for 4 weeks. In ambient external temps of around 20C, the inducted air temp was in the mid 30C's, much higher (50C+) around town due to lower speed. Still pulling around 420 to the tank, same performance with a 'slightly' better throttle response.

Fitted the cold air feed - 4" alloy duct from the foglight hole. Ram air cold feed, the first run at 70mph blew the sender out the duct. In ambient external temps of between 15-20C, the inducted air temps were now just a few degrees above the external temps - still high around town, due to lower speeds. You've guessed it, still pulling around 420 to the tank - and no noticable improvement to the drive.

If you can fit a cold feed, then do so - my personal experience is that it's not an essential requirement on the gen1 Coupe...